5.  The applicant was born in 1945 and is currently detained in Aachen.
6.  On 17 May 1995 the Cologne Regional Court convicted the applicant on three counts of attempted burglary as a member of a gang. Including the sentence imposed for a previous conviction of attempted burglary, the court fixed a cumulative sentence of seven years' imprisonment and ordered the applicant's preventive detention pursuant to Article 66 of the Criminal Code (see paragraphs 27-28 below).
7.  The Regional Court found that, having regard to his personality and to his numerous previous convictions of burglary, the applicant had a disposition to commit serious offences causing serious economic damage and was therefore dangerous to the public. The applicant had repeatedly declared that the burglaries he had committed, which had been aimed at obtaining several ten thousand Deutschmarks and of which he had made his living, were not immoral. As confirmed by a psychiatric expert, the applicant, who was of at least average intelligence, was therefore liable to reoffend. The judgment became final on 10 February 1996.
8.  The applicant served his full prison sentence until 18 February 2002. Since 19 February 2002 the applicant has been in preventive detention.
9.  On 6 February 2002 the Aachen Regional Court, sitting as a chamber for the execution of sentences (Strafvollstreckungskammer), decided that the applicant should be kept in preventive detention following the end of his prison term on 18 February 2002. Relying on Article 67c § 1 of the Criminal Code (see paragraph 29 below), the court considered that his preventive detention was still necessary in view of the objective of such detention.
10.  The Regional Court, agreeing with the views taken by the director of Aachen Prison and by the Public Prosecutor's Office, found that the applicant was very liable to reoffend and to commit serious offences if released (Article 67d § 2 of the Criminal Code; see paragraph 30 below). It noted that the applicant, who was represented in the proceedings by a court‑appointed defence counsel but had refused to participate in an oral hearing, had numerous previous convictions of burglary for which he had spent already more than 26 years in prison. He had always made his living outside prison from crime and had hardly worked in prison, arguing that the remuneration for his work was insufficient. The applicant insisted that the police had arrested him by having recourse to illegal methods of investigation and that he had wrongfully been convicted. He thus failed to accept that the court was bound by the findings in the final judgment of the Cologne Regional Court. The applicant was free to deny having committed the offences he was convicted of by that final judgment in 1995, which as such did not mean that he risked being found to be a recidivist. However, he refused to reappraise his entire criminal past. The findings of the psychiatric expert consulted by the Cologne Regional Court on the applicant's personality were therefore still valid. The fact that the applicant could stay with his son or with a writer when released did not warrant the conclusion that he would not reoffend on release.
11.  On 28 March 2002 the Cologne Court of Appeal, endorsing the reasons given by the Aachen Regional Court, dismissed the applicant's appeal.
12.  On 17 May 2002 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court. He argued that his preventive detention violated the right to liberty and the prohibition on punishment without guilt under the Basic Law. His preventive detention also breached the prohibition of torture in that it was aimed at extracting from him a confession to the offences for which he had been convicted in 1995. Moreover, the proceedings before the Regional Court had been unfair because that court had refused to verify the police methods of investigation leading to his arrest and conviction.
13.  By a decision of 18 December 2002 (which the applicant received on 21 December 2002) the Federal Constitutional Court declined to consider the applicant's constitutional complaint (file no. 2 BvR 808/02).
14.  On 21 February 2006 the Aachen Regional Court, in review proceedings pursuant to Article 67d § 2 and Article 67e § 2 of the Criminal Code (see paragraphs 30 and 31 below), allowed the Public Prosecutor's request and refused to suspend the applicant's placement in preventive detention on probation.
15.  Having heard the applicant, represented by counsel, in person, the Regional Court found that he was still liable to reoffend if released. It referred to the findings in its previous decision of 24 February 2004 not to suspend the applicant's placement in preventive detention on probation and argued that there had been no developments indicating that the applicant was now less likely to be recidivist. His numerous previous convictions showed that he had chosen at an early stage to make his living from crime. Having regard to the report submitted by the director of Aachen Prison, who had opposed to the suspension on probation of the applicant's placement in preventive detention, the Regional Court noted that since his dismissal from his job as editorial journalist of the prison journal for misuse of the computer made available for editing that journal, the applicant was out of work due to his own fault. As the applicant refused any therapy, there was no expert opinion on him and thus no visible positive development.
16.  On 16 May 2006 the Cologne Court of Appeal, endorsing the reasons given by the Regional Court, dismissed the applicant's appeal. It took the view that his preventive detention was covered by Article 5 § 1 (a) of the Convention. It further confirmed that the applicant's final convictions could not be reviewed in the proceedings at issue, but could only be subject of reopening proceedings. Even assuming that the applicant, as he had claimed, had been dismissed from his job as editing journalist of the prison journal without good cause, this did not alter the fact that owing to his disrespect for the property of others, he was liable to reoffend if released. Whilst the applicant did not sell the house he owned (valued at some EUR 250,000), he did not have at his disposal the necessary funds to make his living so that there was a risk that he would reoffend.
17.  On 5 June 2006 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court. He claimed that his detention, being a preventive measure, violated his right to liberty. Moreover, it breached the prohibition of torture in that it was aimed at extracting from him a confession to the offences he had been convicted of. The low remuneration for his forced labour disregarded human dignity. The courts' refusal to review the lawfulness of his criminal convictions also violated Article 13 as the court proceedings at issue were ineffective without doing so.
18.  On 21 June 2006 the Federal Constitutional Court declined to consider the applicant's constitutional complaint (file no. 2 BvR 1169/06).
19.  While in preventive detention, the applicant worked for a private company between September 2002 and January 2004 and as editorial journalist for the prison journal between February and September 2004. He was paid an average of some EUR 300 net per month by the State.
20.  On 3 December 2002 the North Rhine-Westphalia Office for the Execution of Sentences (Justizvollzugsamt) dismissed the applicant's objection to his wage slip. It noted that the applicant's remuneration was in accordance with the rates fixed in the Execution of Sentences Act. It argued that his wage was not unreasonably low, given that the remuneration included other advantages and that the Land paid contributions to the unemployment insurance and did not deduct a contribution to the cost of keeping him in prison from his wages.
21.  On 25 February 2003 the Aachen Regional Court dismissed as ill‑founded the applicant's request for judicial review of the low remuneration for his prison work, for which he claimed some EUR 1000‑1500 net per month, and of the failure of the prison authorities to disclose the financial agreement between them and the private company he worked for. It took the view that the remuneration for prison work, which had recently been raised by 80 per cent in order to comply with a judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of 1 July 1998, was constitutional. Endorsing the reasons given by the North Rhine-Westphalia Office for the Execution of Sentences, the court argued that if prisoners received a higher remuneration, private companies might no longer place any orders in view of the considerably lower productivity of prisoners and prisoners would then not be able to work at all. As the applicant's remuneration was lawful, he could not claim the disclosure of the terms of the contract concluded between the prison authorities and the private company.
22.  On 15 May 2003 the Hamm Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant's appeal on points of law as inadmissible. It found that a review of the Aachen Regional Court's decision was not necessary for the development of the law or in order to secure consistency in the case-law.
23.  On 13 July 2003 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court. He argued that the unduly low remuneration for his prison work was degrading and disregarded human dignity. Moreover, the failure of the prison authorities to disclose the wage paid to them by the private company for his work breached his right to effective judicial review.
24.  On 30 September 2003 the Federal Constitutional Court declined to consider the applicant's constitutional complaint (file no. 2 BvR 1177/03).